Should Babcock and Tippett Fight To the Death for Jack Adams?

By Adam W Parks

As intriguing as the Jimmy Howard V Ilya Bryzgalov matchup looks, the battle of brains between Mike Babcock and Dave Tippett could be even more compelling.

Both coached their respective teams to surprising finishes in the regular season. Tipps lifted the Coyotes out of the NHL gutters and led them to the fourth-best record in the NHL. Babs held together a proud but injury-plagued roster through one of the Red Wings' more memorable regular seasons in the last 10, 20, 30, maybe 40 years.

Both men are deserving of coach of the year honors, though it appears as if Tippett has the edge (according to media sources outside of Detroit). Babcock has never won the award despite being considered (also by most media outside of Detroit) as the best coach in the league, and he might be most deserving of it now more than ever.

Maybe they could share it? Split the trophy in half. The hockey media could come up with one of those spliced names for them like the tabloids did with BrAngelina. How about CockTipp?

Okay, let's get serious, we're in the playoffs now!

HOW DO YOU REPLACE THE 'GREAT ONE'?

Tippet will probably win the Jack Adams Trophy over Babcock in his first season at Phoenix after supplanting Wayne Gretzky. Does he deserve it? Absolutely, regardless of which team advances to the Western Conference Semifinals.

Tippett's first NHL coaching job was in Dallas where he spent the previous six seasons and took the Stars to the playoffs in every one except his last. The Stars won the Pacific Division twice and once made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2008 under his watch. (Who did they lose to? Damn right!)

In any other situation where someone might be asked to takeover a job that Wayne Gretzky left behind, the expectations would be too high to attain. Not in this case. Gretzky was the "Subpar One" as head coach in Phoenix. His Coyotes missed the playoffs in each of his four seasons, and they peaked at 38 wins and 83 points in 2007-08. They rolled around in the muck of the division, never finished higher than fourth, and in Wayne's final season in the desert they went 36-39-7 and declared bankruptcy. No wonder his head looked like a ripened tomato. He's lucky he didn't have a heart attack or blow a blood vessel in his brain. Don't people normally migrate to Arizona to relax when they get on in age?

Here is a picture gallery of Wayne Gretzky coaching the Phoenix Coyotes...










...wow...that's like a photographic timeline of his coaching demise. Here is one picture of Wayne Gretzky immediately after he resigned...



Tippet stepped into a disaster of a franchise and immediately got focus from his players and attention from the fans. He seamlessly transitioned a young, upstart team from a place of uncertainty and controversy to a very confident and talented fourth seed in the West.

Veteran players like Shane Doan and Ed Jovanovski helped that metamorphosis--as did the Vezina Trophy candidate between the pipes--but Tippett deserves the credit. That's some great coaching.

BUT WHAT ABOUT BABS?

"We've had a great run. In saying that, the most remarkable stretch for me is when we had eight guys missing (due to injuries) and the guys hung in there and battled and chipped away and found ways to win games. To me, that's more remarkable than what we've done since the Olympic break."

That was Babcock after the win over Chicago last Sunday. Does he want the Jack Adams Trophy? Probably. Does he care if he doesn't get it? Probably not.

Babcock is the epitome of a hockey coach. Sly, sarcastic, intense, and most importantly: he's successful. Twist what he said and forget what he did with a healthy team in the last 21 games of the season. Rather take a look at what he did with the first 61 games with a tattered roster. It really was incredible that the Wings were even in a position to make a run for the playoffs.

I was a little concerned coming out of the Olympics break. A season in somewhat disarray, and he had just coached a win-gold-or-else team in the biggest hockey tournament in the world (which happened to be held on his home soil).

How does a guy focus on Team Canada when Team Detroit is sitting in ninth place in the West? How does a guy refocus on Team Detroit after winning gold with Team Canada? How does one man balance the highest hockey expectations in the world and in the NHL all in one year?

Babs has juggled more crap this season than any other coach, and he has come out smelling like a winner. Tippett may have the edge on the Jack Adams Trophy, but Babcock has the edge on Tippett in experience and results. Check out his resume:

2002-03 (40-27-9-6): Took Anaheim to the franchise's first Stanley Cup Finals in his first season as a head coach in the NHL.
2005-06 (58-16-8): Coached the Red Wings to a franchise second-best 58 wins in his first season in Detroit.
2006-07 (50-19-13): Led Detroit into its first season without the team's heart and soul (Steve Yzerman) for the first time in 25 seasons...won the Central Division and reached the Western Conference Finals.
2007-08 (54-21-7): Proved that somebody other than Scotty Bowman could bring a Stanley Cup to Hockeytown in the modern era.
2008-09 (51-21-10): Became the first coach in NHL history to win at least 50 games in four-straight seasons...then he coached in the Stanley Cup Finals in back-to-back seasons and his third in six seasons.

Babcock is a coaching/winning machine. It is either tragedy or dumb luck that he has never taken home the hardware for best coach. It looks like it will be because of the latter this time around. Too bad, because this might be his most deserving season.

But whatever, he has his eyes on a bigger prize.

Peace